Centrism on the Ropes… ?
By JM Hamilton (12-15-2019)
A lot of political water has poured under the
bridge, since Thanksgiving. The tide
against neolib/neocon centrism continues to gather strength.
Let’s look at some recent
examples:
Senator Kamala Harris left the race. Many thought she would be Obama’s
heiress, and in many respects, Kamala was. She sneered at liberals and as a
prosecutor, she was a princess of the mass incarceration state. But the novelty of Kamala - along w/ her new
liberal talking points - wore out quickly.
As with many Dem candidates – who have attempted to adopt more progressive
leanings on the campaign trail – her newly found liberalism was, likely, a
false front for Kamala’s true beliefs, failed centrism.
Voters saw through it, and alas,
her campaign never caught fire.
Joe Biden, falling
in the pols after riding Obama’s neolib/neocon coattails, has come out w/ a
unique proposal. Mr. Biden – a la
Pelosi – is said to favor a capped or truncated term in office. Yes, Wall Street Joe/Big Oil Joe wants to only subject the American people to one term of his failed centrism and pro-corpocracy policies. The public is thirsty for
change, particularly those under thirty-five, who have been shafted by Boomers
and Biden’s GOP-Lite/Trump-Lite policies.
As previously mentioned, Joe often praises Republicans, and one look at
his voting records tells us why.
The problem is, for many voters,
one term of Joe is one term too many.
Pete Buttigieg, the flavor
of the month, and I suspect soon to be fallen star, has been called out on his
ties, and prior employment, to McKinsey. Everyone knows McKinsey… if the prince of darkness was personified in an advisory firm, it would be McKinsey. These jerks have eviscerated the middle
class, merged companies, and brought us the monopoly economy. McKinsey is the master of the quick buck. And McKinsey is BFF with banksters, financial
engineering, monopolists, private equity barons, Trump’s border policies, despots & dictators… No
wonder Pete was so reticent about his prior employer. McKinsey, w/ its own internal investment arm,
and all those corporate secrets, has been accused of double-dealing &
profiteering. True to form, and w/ all
those backroom fundraisers, looks like Mayor Pete has learned from his employer, and plans on his own double-dealing?
Cory Booker… what can you say? The US Chamber’s candidate, like many centrists, is a laggard in the polls. So what does a failed centrist do, circa
2019, when they can’t make the debate stage?
They cry to the DNC - and petition candidates who have earned a place on
the debate stage - to support a rules’ change.
Heh, if your neolib/neocon policies and talking points can’t move your
numbers, why not fix the debate rules to suit your needs? Let’s see if the DNC caves?
Mr. Bloomberg,
billionaire and monopolist, has entered the race. He’s worried that Joe Biden is faltering,
which is true, and that Wall Street, as we know it, and his billions are at
risk. Which is also true. So Mr. Bloomberg, like any plutocrat, plans on buying as many votes as possible. If one can't win on the power of one's ideas & personality, buy the election. Right? Unfortunately for Mr. Bloomberg, America
has already suffered at the hands of one megalomaniacal billionaire, our
current White House occupant. America
has also seen the character of the billionaire class, in the form of one
Donald Trump, et al. It’s not a pretty picture –
nor was Mr. Stop & Frisk’s time as mayor of NY. No, many Americans are tired of billionaires, and it's why the majority support a wealth tax.
Corbyn and Labour’s UK Defeat…. One could
see this coming, couldn’t you? The Dem
spin doctors had to work double overtime to shovel this out to the public. After Labour’s defeat… centrists, Biden, and
the US MSM were quick to fire off a warning:
to wit, veer too far left Dems (i.e. don’t keep the corpocracy in
power), and you too, will suffer Labour’s fate. This was a stretch to begin with, because
Labour actually didn’t support the UK working women and men on Brexit. Brexit was a referendum on: a corporatist/non-democratic
EU; globalism; neoliberalism; and yes, failed centrism. And in a reversal of roles, the Tories wisely
chose the side of the working person, and supported Brexit and the referendum (against the establishment). Labour, most unfortunately,
did not. The US MSM, and Unca Joe, painted this as a failure
of progressive/socialist policies, when the UK election was another referendum on
Brexit.
The Party that supported Brexit (breaking
against failed centrism & neolib/neocon policies) won. The Tories. Oh the ironies. Therein lies the true lesson: centrism and supranational bodies (see
EU) that turn a blind eye to working people are on the ropes. (The fact that the Tories, like Republicans, will act in ways entirely antithetical to the working class is a story for another day.)
Unca Joe ponders
one term… and what day is it, and what year?
And so it goes in America… Dem centrists/establishment
candidates claim their working class bonafieds, but then meet in backrooms w/
the corporate elite, raising tens of millions. Meanwhile, say what one will about the current White House occupant – none
of it good – at least Trump, in 2016, was smart enough to pander to working class
voters, who had been shafted by establishment Dems and neolibs/neocons. Looks like Mr. Boris Johnson learned at the hand
of a master politician.
At the end of the day, centrism is
a damned ideology… it derives its power from a corporatism that has failed the American
people. You know, the rich grow richer & more powerful, while everyone else is certain of three things: death, taxes, and man’s inhumanity to his fellow man.
Many Dem voters (often
called purists) have been fooled and fooled again. This time, why settle for promises of
liberalism and progressive government from centrist candidates, when you can
have the real thing: Gabbard, Sanders or Warren.
Copyright JM
Hamilton Publishing 2019
